Buckwheat and Rice Flour Pancakes – Allergy Friendly

Corn-free / Dairy-free / Egg-free / Gluten-free / Nut-free / OAS safe / Peanut-free / Sesame-free / Soy-free

The story behind this recipe

For a person with an intolerance to egg, milk, and a life-threatening allergy to several fruits, transitioning into eating mostly vegetarian 3 years ago, and then (mostly again!) vegan a little over 1.5 years ago, has proven especially challenging and frustrating when it comes to… BRUNCH!

Growing up, I never faced such a problem. I was raised in France where bread, butter, and jelly constitute the traditional daily breakfast, at a time where brunch was not even on the French’s radar and, luckily for me and my family, my body and I have always been perfectly fine and happy with gluten. Moreover, I did not develop my intolerance to egg until my late teenage years, my intolerance to milk until I moved to the U.S. for grad school, and my fruit allergies until my mid-20s.

So on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when jolly groups of friends gather to enjoy the first hours of their day around bubbly drinks, warm coffee, and delicious food, I can usually be found staring at my phone, scrolling through a list of brunch places, trying to find a restaurant that offers fairly healthy and appealing vegan options… And although the increase of vegan or allergy-friendly options throughout the U.S. is making my life easier every day, I usually end up doing the same thing over and over again:
a/ eating avocado toast with a black coffee and a freshly-squeezed orange juice
b/ ordering a sandwich or salad from the lunch menu, or
c/ using my “vegan pass” to eat something that I usually later regret!

Now try to picture me organizing my birthday brunch, at home with my best friends, and planning a delicious menu while trying to juggle everyone’s dietary restrictions: 2 with no known allergies (Yay!), 2 vegetarians, 1 egg-free dairy-free gluten-free nut-free, my vegan-but-thankfully-super-flexible boyfriend, and my egg-free dairy-free OAS self…

Someone said “Nightmare”?! What on Earth was I thinking?

Preparing a disgusting or tasteless brunch and ruining my social life was the least of my concerns. Any mistake and one of us could end up really sick or worse… in the hospital!

I seriously considered canceling several times and go with a more obvious and easier solution: celebrating over drinks and a large amount of guacamole with gluten-free chips.

After checking all my recipe books and searching nearly every corner of the culinary internet, I decided to combine several recipes and come up with my own allergy-friendly pancake recipe: the Darkilicious Pancakes, as I like to call them 😊

The health benefits of this recipe

Contrary to its name, buckwheat does not actually contain any wheat and is fully gluten-free. As a result, it was my main reason to buy it. Additionally, in France we use buckwheat to make crepes (which we call “galettes”), so I figured this type of flour would also work well for pancakes.

As I did a bit more research though, turns out buckwheat is actually a great source of protein and fiber, which is definitely a plus!

A few tips for this recipe

These pancakes might not have the pretty golden color of traditional pancakes, but they are quick and easy to make, are safe to eat for nearly everyone, and they taste delicious!

100% buckwheat pancakes are dry and somewhat sandy, with a strong flavor that can be unpleasant for some people. Therefore, it is better to only use 50% buckwheat flour and mix it with another gluten-free flour with a softer flavor. I chose rice flour.

Unlike traditional white-flour pancakes, these are not very moist and definitely have an earthier taste. So, we like to eat them with a little bit of pure maple syrup to add moisture and eat them with fresh fruit for sweetness. We love adding fruit directly to the batter while cooking them. Blueberries are an easy and great addition, but my favorite recipe consists of adding slices of fresh banana and vegan chocolate chips.

Serve them with your favorite fresh fruit, fruit compote (if you have OAS), or the jelly, spread or syrup of your choice.

Give them a try and let me know how yours turned out!

Print Recipe

Gluten-free Pancakes

These allergy-friendly pancakes are corn-free, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, sesame-free, and soy-free.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Resting time10 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast

Servings: 8 pancakes

Calories: 92kcal

Author: Missallergist

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 cup non-dairy milk

Instructions

• Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl.
• Gradually add all the wet ingredients.
• Mix until the batter looks smooth and homogeneous.
• Let it rest 10 minutes before cooking.
• Heat a flat non-stick pan over medium heat.
• When the pan is hot, pour some batter on it, forming 3 or 4 pancakes depending on the size of your pan.
• If you want to add fruit or chocolate chips, this is the time! Just gently press them onto the batter.
• Let your pancakes cook for a few minutes until air bubbles form on top (Note: there won’t be as many bubbles as with the traditional white-flour pancake batter).
• Use a spatula to flip the pancakes and let them cook for another minute.
• Repeat the last three steps until you run out of batter.

Notes

Serve with your favorite fresh fruit, fruit compote (if you have OAS), or the jelly, spread or syrup of your choice.

Since these pancakes are not as moist as white flour pancakes, we like to eat them with a little bit of pure maple syrup.

Bon appétit!